Early Menopause

Most young women think that menopause only happens to women who are at least 55 to 60. In fact, menopause starts happening for most women around the age of 45. If menopause occurs sooner than 45, it is considered early menopause. If a woman goes into menopause earlier than 40, it is called premature menopause. There are many reasons why women could be affected by premature or early menopause.

The reasons for menopause happening early are not always easily found. This can make women feel frustrated and lost on how to deal with it. In many cases, there are definite reasons for menopause to happen earlier in life. Let’s look at some of these reasons.

When women have to have a hysterectomy it throws them into menopause immediately. Women have had to have hysterectomies for various reasons early in their lives sometimes cancer is at fault and sometimes they have fibroid tumors bad enough to need them. This is one reason for women having either premature or early menopause. Menopause often happens to women going through treatment for cancer. Chemotherapy kills good cells even in the ovaries along with the cancer cells. Sometimes these women only go through menopause temporarily though sometimes it can by permanent though.

Another cause for menopause to happen early is POV or premature ovarian failure. This causes the ovaries to not only stop any egg production but it also makes the ovaries stop producing hormones. Certain autoimmune diseases and genetic predisposition can cause POV.

The symptoms for early menopause are identical to regularly occurring menopause. But because this type of menopause is usually brought on due to illness, surgery, or even genetics, the severity of the symptoms are much worse. These symptoms are mood swings, night sweats, insomnia, headaches, joint and muscle pain, and hot flashes. Weight gain is common during this time too along with water retention.

Along with mood swings, women can get quite depressed, forgetful, and have cravings. Hormone levels changing in the woman’s body cause this. When menopause is brought on early, women go through these symptoms much faster than in natural menopause. Women suffer a severe rapid loss of estrogen and this leads to all the symptoms mentioned.

Treatment for early menopause is the same for natural menopause. Many women have benefited from hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Some women choose the patches over taking the pill form. The patches gradually deposit estrogen into the body through the skin. Also, women should have a support group to help them through the bad days. This group can consist of friends, family, or women going through menopause too. Over the years, the symptoms do usually get better and most of the time women can come off the HRT.